really looking forward to this,if it couldnt be Peter Jackson,the Del Toro is the perfect replacement for at the helm

so,it is now The Hobbit the book split into two movies?...i think i may of prefered the first idea,but i suppose if they can't jam in everything from The Hobbit into 1 movie(they each can still be a 4hr epic cant they??)..then so be it,they may as well go for another 3 films....the Hobbit Trilogy to go with the LOTR trilogy

has anything been said about the casting of Bilbo yet?,i would so love it to be Ian Holm again,but afraid he maybe getting too old to play the part of young Blibo ...i know both Ian Mckellen and Andy Serkis are rumoured to be repriseing their roles again for Gandalf and Gollum/Smeagal

In case ya hadn't heard, The Hobbit has apparently lost its director as Del Toro apparently had serious concerns about delays and allocated time, apparently he'll still get some screenplay credit if the film gets made.

In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming The Hobbit, I am faced with the hardest decision of my life. After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien's Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures.

I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I've been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed.

The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wish the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director.

This'll probably lead to a lot of conjecture about Jackson himself getting back in the director's chair. imho, given how bad his Lovely Bones adaption was, and how pointless his King King re-make was, I'd love to see him back in Tolkien's world, but it hasn't sounded like he wants to do more than producing for The Hobbit.

As far as a new director, who knows? Maybe Jackson will find a rookie diamond in the rough, as with Neil Blokamp on District 9.

According to Jackson's comments, part of the issue is getting a director who can commit to spending 6 years in New Zealand, pretty much not working on anything else.

Shitty, shitty news. Del Toro would have made these movies amazing. I think Jackson is going to have to direct these ones himself.

Del Toro films have some amazing visuals,and they would of been most welcome in middle earth,so this is indeed sad news

with how late he is leaving,i think you're right and its only right that Peter Jackson should step up,as he has been there since the start of this production,i just can't see them getting someone else in this late,if they are still aiming for Dec 2011(which is probably doubtful now)

Very disappointing news indeed - I'm also a big fan of Del Toro and would have loved to see his film version of a Tolkien tale. I won't be too disappointed if Jackson now takes the reigns though. If he can't do it I agree with going with new directorial talent - really like the result he got with Blokamp and District 9. Of course if Sony and MGM are heavily involved, being the fucktard companies they are I'm sure they'd never allow it. They'd probably be happier to pull the plug and cut their losses than take a risk.

Sir Peter Jackson says he will step into the breach and direct The Hobbit himself if it becomes the only way to ensure the US$150 million (NZ$219m) film is made after the sudden departure of director Guillermo del Toro.

Wellington Chamber of Commerce has said that the film is worth “many millions of dollars” to Wellington’s economy and further delays may mean the film does not start shooting until next year.

Sir Peter Jackson says he will step into the breach and direct The Hobbit himself if it becomes the only way to ensure the US$150 million (NZ$219m) film is made after the sudden departure of director Guillermo del Toro.

Wellington Chamber of Commerce has said that the film is worth “many millions of dollars” to Wellington’s economy and further delays may mean the film does not start shooting until next year.

that's it Pete, take one for the team!

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I don't remember if it was here I was reading it, but one of the reasons Del Toro had to step down was that he apparently wasn't willing/able to invest six years of his time in NZ when it was originally only supposed to have taken three years. Where does the six year figure come from?

I *really* hope this wont be shoddy 3D again...if so, I'm out. At least in denmark we're already hearing grumblings from a lot of people about overusing 3d in movies and how annoying that is, not to say expensive.

Anyways- I hope the movie will be made, and I hope Peter J will do it himself, he did really well in LOTR.

I don't remember if it was here I was reading it, but one of the reasons Del Toro had to step down was that he apparently wasn't willing/able to invest six years of his time in NZ when it was originally only supposed to have taken three years. Where does the six year figure come from?

I think it's a combination of things. First, they were supposed to start filming by now, if not earlier based on the original timeframe. Del Tormo has been working on this since late 2008 and it now is looking suspect as to whether they will start filming even by the end of this year. That all has to do with the financial problems at MGM, which is currently trying to sell itself off and can't contribute its share of the money (MGM and Warner's are both involved). So even if they started filming this year and got the movies out in 2011 and 2012 as planned, Del Tormo would be at over 4 years. But the delays mean it might not be filming now until next year, with the releases pushed back, and that would mean we are heading toward a six year committment on his part. Given that he basically took a "leave" from several planned projects that a major studio was willing to finance for him, you can see where things had gotten out of hand from his perspective.

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Sir Peter Jackson says he will step into the breach and direct The Hobbit himself if it becomes the only way to ensure the US$150 million (NZ$219m) film is made after the sudden departure of director Guillermo del Toro.

Wellington Chamber of Commerce has said that the film is worth “many millions of dollars” to Wellington’s economy and further delays may mean the film does not start shooting until next year.

For someone who loved Jackson's LOTR and hasn't liked any of del Toro's films, this is very, very good news.

i am not saying all those are great,but he isn't as bad as some directors out there...jumping the gun and gonna say Ceekay's version of The Hobbit for one ,.....The Devils Backbone was pretty creepy if i remember rightly

i thought Hellboy 1 was great while number 2 was pretty shit...Blade II also i wasn't overly keen on,but Pan's Labyrinth and The Devils Backbone i loved...i think he had something to do with The Orphanage as well,but i have yet to see that(i do love my Foreign horrors)

i am not saying all those are great,but he isn't as bad as some directors out there...jumping the gun and gonna say Ceekay's version of The Hobbit for one ,.....The Devils Backbone was pretty creepy if i remember rightly

It's not that I don't like them at all, it's just that they don't do much for me. Blade 2 was pretty good but I preferred the first film. I thought Hellboy 1 and 2 were very boring though they were visually interesting. Pan's Labyrinth was quite good but I didn't love it like many do. Haven't seen Devil's Backbone but I have heard good things.

However I thought his visual style paired with a scripts by Jackson and Co. along with Jackson producing would have likely alleviated my problems with his previous works so I was definitely looking forward to his take on The Hobbit.

i think he had something to do with The Orphanage as well,but i have yet to see that(i do love my Foreign horrors)

Yup the Orphanage was his and IMO probably his best film to date - I say that despite being a very big fan of Pans Labyrinth. It isn't so much of a horror film as a ghost story, but still well worth viewing.

Sir Peter Jackson says he will step into the breach and direct The Hobbit himself if it becomes the only way to ensure the US$150 million (NZ$219m) film is made after the sudden departure of director Guillermo del Toro.

Wellington Chamber of Commerce has said that the film is worth “many millions of dollars” to Wellington’s economy and further delays may mean the film does not start shooting until next year.

For someone who loved Jackson's LOTR and hasn't liked any of del Toro's films, this is very, very good news.

For someone who loved Jackson's LOTR and has loved all of del Toro's films...well, I guess I'm still a winner, but I would've loved to see del Toro's take on Middle Earth. The man's a passionate geek with the eye of an artist and the sensibilities of a great action and horror film director.

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Sir Peter Jackson says he will step into the breach and direct The Hobbit himself if it becomes the only way to ensure the US$150 million (NZ$219m) film is made after the sudden departure of director Guillermo del Toro.

Wellington Chamber of Commerce has said that the film is worth “many millions of dollars” to Wellington’s economy and further delays may mean the film does not start shooting until next year.

For someone who loved Jackson's LOTR and hasn't liked any of del Toro's films, this is very, very good news.

For someone who loved Jackson's LOTR and has loved all of del Toro's films...well, I guess I'm still a winner, but I would've loved to see del Toro's take on Middle Earth. The man's a passionate geek with the eye of an artist and the sensibilities of a great action and horror film director.

maybe someday they'll release any concept art he had for the film.

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So who could take Del Toro's place? Not Jackson. "As for Peter directing," writes [Jackon's manager] Kamins from New Zealand, "that's not something he can consider at this time as he has other commitments to other projects." [I assume that's from before whatever TheOneRing is reporting-bj]

Kamins says execs from New Line and Warner Bros. will be meeting with him, Jackson and Walsh this week to hammer out who will take on the job of directing "The Hobbit." And until the announcement is made, why not partake in some wild speculation? I'm personally intrigued by the idea of Del Toro's old buddy Alfonso Cuarón taking the reigns; between "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Children of Men," he certainly knows how to pull off sweeping spectacle with deep feeling.

Everything seems to be set in place to launch filming, but the MGM financial troubles and now this seem to really be snarling things up.

I can't see them bringing in a big name like Tim Burton cause he would probably want to start from scratch and bring his own ideas into the mix. To some extent they may need a director who's comfortable taking someone else's work and designs, and jumping right in. I don't know if past work that's in the same vein is a necessary quality.

When I first read about Peter Jackson directing Lord of the Rings, I just knew him from the disappointing Michael J. Fox film "The Frighteners" and some amusingly nasty/funny horror films like Bad Taste. There was little in his filmography that suggested he made any sense for LOTR at all. So my gut feeling is Jackson and Co. won't just type up a list of big names and try to get somebody that way. Probably there's someone else doing smaller, visually distinctive films that they think would do good work on The Hobbit.

When I first read about Peter Jackson directing Lord of the Rings, I just knew him from the disappointing Michael J. Fox film "The Frighteners" and some amusingly nasty/funny horror films like Bad Taste. There was little in his filmography that suggested he made any sense for LOTR at all. So my gut feeling is Jackson and Co. won't just type up a list of big names and try to get somebody that way. Probably there's someone else doing smaller, visually distinctive films that they think would do good work on The Hobbit.

The Frighteners didn't do much for me at the time (though I like it a lot more these days) but Heavenly Creatures was pretty awesome and it convinced me that he had the dramatic chops necessary to handle LOTR.

Jackson and del Toro both care a great deal about science fiction, horror and fantasy films. That's why i enjoy their work so much (and why I'm such an unabashed fan boi). You can see they're not in it for the quick buck that blockbuster films usually generate just because they have extensive CGI and/or an actor everyone loves. Ratner, Bay, and Bruckheimer are like factory line workers. They churn 'em out as fast they can and cut corners on the story if it gets in the way of the money shot.

Jackson and del Toro never give me that feeling. They LOVE making these films and that enthusiasm and care seeps into every pore of their movies.

I guess what I'm saying is that I trust Jackson to turn over the reins to the franchise to someone who loves the material as much as he does. Otherwise he wouldn't have turned to del Toro in the first place.

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Yup, I was thinking production. Once Bayona -long term Del Toro friend- got the directorial duties, he involved him, so it very much has Del Toro's rub on it. Del Toro's also the main producer for the upcoming US remake.